søndag 16. mars 2008

Winter Vacation in Finland





Our family had a wonderful vacation in Finland 17-23 february. The trip was a success. The kids had a lot of fun playing in snow with their cousins, Ismo got to meet his friends and family, and Marianne was just enjoying the ride ;) We drove more than 4000 km, mostly on slippery winter roads, which was quite demanding... Everything went well though, and we were protected from accidents. Our new family-car (AudiA6 Avant) managed her baptism of fire very well ...at Skansen, after which we went shopping in the center of the city. We slept on the ferry from Sweden to Finland. In the morning we visited my brothers (Pasi) family in Turku, and afterwards we drove to Helsinki to visit my sister Kirsi and her family.
Next day I had a chance to visit my best friends in Lappeenranta (by the Russian border) Marianne and the kids stayed at my sisters place, Solveig is the best friends with her cousin Elisa, our families really get along, we travel to Denmark with them next summer after which they spend few days at our place. In Lappeenranta my friends had arranged a shoot out in the shooting range, I took my rifle with me, it was great to do some shooting after many years, I had forgotten what a markman I used to be in military, it was nice to notice that the skill was still there ;)

On tuesday we headed to Kuopio to my dad, we visited my sister Mervi on the way. My dad was superhappy when we arrived, he looked much better and was sharper than in the summer when I saw him last time, he suffered a bloodcloth in brain few years ago and have suffered of bad eyesight and memory loss. I took my dad everywhere we went, we had great few days together. In thursday we went to our summerplace by ski, kids we exited to ski and to make snowmen. My brother Vesa was also there with his 2 snowscooters. I took all our kids to snowmobile drive on frozen lake, they really enjoyed the speed. In the evening we visited my sister Virpi and her family.

The day we left, I went to visit my mothers grave with kids and my dad, it was very emotional.
You get used to not to have your mother around but you will never stop missing her, I miss my mom dearly. I am glad that we have a gospel which puts things into perspective and gives hope.

Return trip went well exept the road over Haukeli was closed(mountain pass)because of bad weather, we had to take detour through coastal E18, which meant 4 hours extra. We came home 1.00 in the night, we had sat 18 hours in the car almost nonstop. I am gratefull to our kids that they were so patient on the trip, and that Marianne did not complain much either ;)

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